A motor vehicle usually has an instrument panel, which can also be referred to as a dashboard, extending beneath the windshield at the front part of the passenger compartment of such a nature that the structure involves a support body which carries the necessary instruments and fittings and which can extend for example in the region in front of the front seats over almost the entire width of the vehicle. The support body is covered by a separately produced skin or covering which is adapted to the contour of the support body and which at least predominantly comprises thermoplastic polyurethane. The gauge of the cover skin does not exceed or only slightly exceeds a dimension for example of 1 mm. That skin is not self-supporting and can therefore be changed in shape virtually without limitation.
Covers of a skin or film configuration of that kind can be produced by a process referred to as the slush process in which thermoplastic polyurethane in powder form is introduced into a mold of suitable configuration in which, while being heated, it is distributed over the surface of the mold by a biaxial fling movement or by other suitable movements, being raised to the melting temperature. The powder which is distributed in the form of a uniform layer over the inside surface of the mold gels due to the increase in temperature thereof so that the individual particles of the powder combine together to form a continuous wall portion or skin which, after adequate cooling, is then removed from the mold and subjected to suitable cutting operations to put it into the appropriate shape required for it to be mounted on the holding arrangement for the instruments. That process is extremely time-consuming and therefore expensive, in particular by virtue of the fact that between three and seven minutes are required for an operating cycle for the production of such a cover skin, depending on the size of the cover skin to be produced.
Having regard to the extremely large numbers in which cover skins of that kind are required, there is an urgent need for a more economical production process.